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Former U.S. Rep. Chenoweth-Hage dies in Nevada car crash

Soapweed

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Former congresswoman dies in Nevada

October 2, 2006


By Brendan Riley [email protected]

The Associated Press


Carson City, Nevada - Helen Chenoweth-Hage, a conservative firebrand who served three terms as an Idaho congresswoman, was killed Monday when thrown from a car that overturned on an isolated central Nevada highway.

A daughter, Meg Chenoweth Keenan, said her mother was a passenger in the SUV-type vehicle that flipped just before noon Monday on State Route 376, the main route between her Pine Creek Ranch, in Monitor Valley, and Tonopah.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said Chenoweth-Hage, 68, was pronounced dead at the scene. Though other family members were in the car -- including the driver, daughter-in-law Yelena Hage, 24, and 5-month-old grandson-in-law Bryan Hage -- no one else was seriously injured.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Rocky Gonzalez said Chenoweth-Hage was holding the baby and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He added both Chenoweth-Hage and the baby were thrown from the car but the child "miraculously" had only minor injuries.

Gonzalez said the SUV, traveling toward Tonopah, drifted off the road to the right, swerved back to the left and then flipped as the driver overcorrected in steering to the right in efforts to stay on the road.

Chenoweth-Hage was killed four months after the death of her husband, Nevada rancher Wayne Hage, who battled the federal government for decades over public lands and private property rights and came to epitomize the Sagebrush Rebellion in the West. Hage had been ill and died in his sleep at age 69.

A Republican, Chenoweth-Hage was elected to Congress from Idaho in 1994 and served three two-year terms. The outspoken advocate of smaller government and property rights chose not to run in 2000.

U.S. Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, who replaced Chenoweth, said he only ran in 2000 because she opted to retire.

"What a tragedy," Otter said. "Helen was a person, whether in her private life or in her public service, was dedicated to principles of limited government. In every sense of her being, she fought for the maximum individual liberty -- and the minimum in government."

"Helen was the most amazing, gracious person I ever had the privilege to know," her daughter said in a prepared statement. "She was fearless in life, and I know she welcomes the opportunity to be in the presence of God her father.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, Chenoweth-Hage grew up in Grants Pass, Oregon, and attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, before moving to the northern Idaho timber town of Orofino, where she worked at Northside Medical Center.

She became a well-known political name in the state when she moved to Boise in the 1970s, serving as the executive director of the Idaho Republican Party and becoming U.S. Rep. Steven Symms' chief of staff.

She ran for Congress against incumbent Democrat Larry LaRocco and gained national attention when she held "endangered salmon bakes," serving canned salmon and ridiculing the listing of Idaho salmon as an endangered species during fundraisers.

Chenoweth-Hage also said that salmon aren't endangered but white males are, complained about black government helicopters harassing ranchers, said minorities didn't like northern Idaho because it is too cold and called for disarming federal resource enforcement agents.

She also said she suffered from unjustified media criticism because she was a woman and because she stood firmly for western rights, independence and sovereignty.

During her congressional career, Chenoweth-Hage was a victim of a "salmon pie" attack while at a field hearing on forest health in Missoula, Montana. Randall Mark of Moscow, Idaho hit her in the head with a "pie" made of rotten canned salmon, forcing the meeting to adjourn for an hour while she cleaned salmon flakes from her hair and jacket.

After the attack, the congresswoman joked, "I would like to say that I find it amusing that they used salmon. I guess salmon must not be endangered anymore." The stunt landed Mark in jail for more than two months. He also got a year of probation.

She married Hage in 1999 in Meridian, Idaho, at a ceremony attended by more than 1,000 guests. In 2000, Chenoweth-Hage considered a possible bid for Idaho's lieutenant governor's post, but then opted to work for a private property advocacy group in Boise.


~~~~~


Associated Press writer Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.


Copyright 2006, Las Vegas Sun.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/oct/02/100210000.html










Former U.S. Rep. Chenoweth-Hage dies in Nevada car crash



October 2, 2006




http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/M_IMAGE.10dcf9c674e.93.88.fa.d0.3bcaeb1d.jpg



Carson City, Nevada - Former U.S. Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage died today in a car wreck near Tonopah, Nevada, family members have confirmed.
Chenoweth-Hage, who was elected to Congress in Idaho in 1994 and served through 2000, was 68.

Her daughter, Meg Chenoweth Keenan, says Chenoweth-Hage was a passenger in this morning's one-car crash.

No one else was seriously injured.

Representative "Butch" Otter, the man who replaced Chenoweth, said he only ran in 2000 because she retired.

Otter says, "What a tragedy. In every sense of her being, she fought for the maximum individual liberty -- and the minimum in government."

Her husband, Wayne Hage, died in June after an illness.



http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-oct0206-chenoweth-hage_dies.3bbe442e.html




Helen signs a Jarbidge-to-Darby "Shovels of Solidarity for Stewards of the Darby" shovel while Jay Zane Walley emcees the Darby Farmland Rally, September 2, 2000, held near London, Ohio.




Former U.S. Rep. Chenoweth-Hage dies in Nevada car crash



October 2, 2006



By Brendan Riley [email protected]

The Associated Press / The Las Vegas Sun

http://www.lasvegassun.com

To submit a Letter to the Editor: [email protected]


Carson City, Nevada - Former U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage died Monday in a car crash, her daughter said.

Chenoweth-Hage, a Republican who was elected to Congress from Idaho in 1994 and served through 2000, was 68. Her daughter, Meg Chenoweth Keenan, said Chenoweth-Hage was a passenger in the Monday morning crash near Tonopah, Nevada. No one else was seriously injured in the one-car crash, she said.

Chenoweth had been married since 1999 to Wayne Hage, a Nevada rancher who came to epitomize Nevada's Sagebrush Rebellion as he battled for decades with the federal government over public lands and private property rights. He died in June at age 69.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, Chenoweth-Hage grew up in Grants Pass, Oregon, and attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, before moving to the northern Idaho timber town of Orofino, where she worked at Northside Medical Center.

She became a well-known political name in the state when she moved to Boise in the 1970s, serving as the executive director of the Idaho Republican Party and becoming U.S. Rep. Steven Symms' chief of staff.

She ran for Congress against incumbent Democrat Larry LaRocco and gained national attention when she held "endangered salmon bakes," serving canned salmon and ridiculing the listing of Idaho salmon as an endangered species during fundraisers.

An advocate of smaller government and property rights, Chenoweth-Hage won the race and served a self-imposed three-term limit as a U.S. representative.



Copyright 2006, Las Vegas Sun.


http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/oct/02/100210889.html


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Have they not heard of seat belts and child car seats? Lucky the baby wasn't killed as well.
 
Tam, gotta say I was thinking the same thing when I read that.. Soon as I read the "launched" from the car (Or was it thrown) the no seatbelt thing came to mind... How that baby lived, well that is just a miracle. Still a tradgedy but it sounds like it was one that could have/ should have been avoidable.
 
That's all Helen Chenowyth Hage gets on this site?
The first comment was at least respectful.
The other two commenters obviously have no idea who she was or what she did.

I met Helen only one time. But followed her carrer closely once I realized who she was and what she represented.
She was an articulate intelligent courageous and determined woman. She encouraged every person she met to work on rural and rancher rights issues. She was as strong a person as there ever was and a staunch advocate for the rights of the people who make a living on the land.
They, Helen Wayne and Jean Hage and their children and extended family not only fought the good fight, they won. Moreover they have never quit, see http://www.stewardsoftherange.orgfor more cases they are supporting. All three of them left a legacy most of us will never live up to.
A decision on what the government owes them for stealing their rights on the land and ruining a historic ranch business is due in January and is a tremendous victory that will be shared by all western ranchers.

As for he mistake that cost her her life she wasn't driving and the person who was was obviously distracted and shaken. We all have a number of days we will live. Hers were up, the baby's were not. Every single person who lives far from town has found themselves in a position of having a crying baby who needs tending and an appointment that has to be kept especially if it is a hundred miles away and you can't wait another month to make it. Anyone who says they have never taken a baby out of a carseat, not even once, I have a really hard time believing. To focus solely on that detail instead of the contributions she made in her life just seems odd to me.

I envision Helen in that rolling vehicle holding that child and absorbing every impact so that he would not. Just as she, Wayne and Wayne's first wife Jean did for all western ranchers in facing up to the USFS for taking their ranch. They absorbed the impacts and the rest of us either ignored it becuase it wasan't in our backyard yet or helped the best we could.

God Bless all of them, they were true patriots. She deserved the respect of every ranch woman in the nation, we should all be so strong and honorable, we should all be so willing to serve others. Instead so many of us simply live in our own world let someone else carry our water and criticize from the sidelines.
 
Well said, longhorn, and thanks for saying it.

I followed this case pretty closely at one time.
Wayne Hage wrote a book and we bought it and dontated it to
the country library. I doubt if many read it.

They certainly were outnumbered and dared tread where others
wouldn't. They did all of us a great service with what they fought
for. And they did manage to prevail after all the time and money
it cost them. I remember joining Stewards of the Range just
about that time as well and sent money to help with their fight.

How long has this gone on? Seems to me that it started with them
in the mid 80's but I'm not for sure. It carried on way too long,
I do know that.
 
Stewards is still going, they are still picking people who need help and using Jean Wayne and now Helen's legacy to do their best to help them.

It started in the early 80s for Wayne and Jean and it isn't finished yet.

That is what happens to anyone who dares to fight the feds, they wait and sap your entire life, your savings your home and sometimes even your will to live if you dare have the guts to go up against them.

Thank goodness someone took the studs on it and dealt with it.
Their family is carrying on that fine bullheaded tradition. thank goodness.

Stewards is still around and hopefully will be for a good long time.
thanks for noticing.
 
She was quite a lady. Having grown up and lived in Idaho til we moved here, she was a big part of political life in Idaho. I didn't personally know her or Wayne but always thought they made a great pair. They both did tremondous(sp) things for private property rights.
 
What I liked about her was she was real. Here she was at a meeting where she and Wayne spoke. A US Congressman in a sundress and as gracious and normal and encouraging as she could be no handshaking no posturing and nothing to indicate she wasn't the same as the rest of us.

She wore T shirts and jeans and pitched right in with the people they were working with. Her expectations of the people around her were just as high as her expectations for herself. She started the Sagebrush rebellion about 5 years before Wayne got credit for it. It is no wonder they ended up together.

It would be nice if more people tried to live up to their ideals.
 

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